There’s something magical about watching an accordion player in action. The rise and fall of the bellows seems to mimic the breathing of whoever’s holding it, working like one single entity. Perhaps this is why Kristen (Hatt) Lewis of The Lewinskies has experienced such personal growth when it came to learning to play the instrument. She hasn’t been playing the accordion for very long, but her connection to it stems back much further.
“I only used it for something I would call music meditation,” says Lewis. “I would play notes, hear it and sing along, write songs, but not with words, just sounds with vocals. It was more like music therapy. It was zen.”
This zen feeling translates well into The Lewinskies’ latest album, Yesterday We Had Everything. Lewis’s smoky voice pairs with whimsical backing to create ten tracks that sound transported from another time.
The album certainly wasn’t a one-man effort; Kristen’s husband Matthew Lewis rounds off the duo, who list impressive instrumental collaborations for this project, including drummer Geoff Arsenault and bassist Tom Easley. The completion of the ten tracks was an intense, single-day effort, in which the entire album was recorded live, in less than four hours, without a single break.
“We had such a good vibe we thought we better stick with it,” says Lewis. “It was an intense experience. I can only hope that every album goes this well on recording day.”
The result is an ethereal listening experience. Lewis claims playing the accordion brings her to other lands, and this album is surely a result of that.
Despite writing songs since she was eleven years old, Lewis truly feels at home now that she’s begun to master the accordion—she’s finally found her instrument.
“The words are spilling out of me everyday. I can barely keep up.”
As far as musical influences go, Lewis cites local songwriters like Matt Mays, Al Tuck, Jerry Leger and many others. Supporting local music and the artists behind it is a huge passion of hers.
“We are all working hard,” says Lewis. “I am inspired by purity and love. Please support local music!”
The Lewinskies have no plans to slow down any time soon. The next few years will have them touring with master accordion player Alejandro Brittes and seven-string guitarist Andrew Ely, first in Canada and then all the way to Brazil and Argentina.
You can catch them at New Scotland Yard in Dartmouth on the afternoon of November 18th, 2018. Or, in the meantime, their new album Yesterday We Had Everything is available for purchase and streaming now.